US State Department Official Interviewed in Iran Daily

by Shawn Amoei In the latest sign of increasing press freedom and Iranian receptivity towards a thaw in relations with the United States, one of Iran’s leading dailies published on Monday an interview with the State Department’s Persian-language spokesman, Alan Eyre. With his… Continue Reading

The Tangled Web of a U.S.-Iran Thaw

by Mitchell Plitnick The real Iranian nuclear threat has apparently already taken hold. New Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s so-called “charm offensive” has sent the war hawks scurrying as if the bomb had really gone off. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu… Continue Reading

Missing Ahmadinejad and Savaging “the Charm Offensive”

by Marsha B. Cohen The ubiquitous smiling visage of Hassan Rouhani and his seemingly reasonable iterations of Iranian intentions are infuriating some Israelis. Zvi Bar’el of Haaretz explains that “Israel’s fear of losing its justification for an attack on Iran and… Continue Reading

Israeli Leaders Respond with Scowls to Rouhani’s Election

by Marsha B. Cohen For most Israeli politicians, the news of the election of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran, is not good. That it is considered good news by anyone else makes it that much worse. In… Continue Reading

Khamenei Likely to Hold Onto Weakened Ahmadinejad

By Yasaman Baji via IPS News Amid growing and increasingly harsh criticism of his handling of the economy, talk of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s removal has regained momentum in Iran in recent weeks. But, according to most observers, Iran’s supreme leader,… Continue Reading